With seven weeks to go, the campaign for state House District 63 is heating up with accusations from the campaigns of Democrat John Burger and Republican Mark Messmer.
Wednesday, Daviess County Democrat Chairman Bill Walton issued a press release asking prosecutors of all four counties in the district to investigate Messmer’s campaign for potential criminal violations.
Walton contended that mass mailings sent by the Messmer camp did not contain a disclaimer identifying who paid for the advertisement, a Class A misdemeanor under Indiana law.
“Normally I wouldn’t make a big deal out of this because candidates on both sides can and do make mistakes on disclaimers,” Walton said. “But Mark Messmer knows disclaimers are required. The House Republican Campaign Committee knows disclaimers are required. It was deliberately left off of this mailer to reinforce Messmer’s misleading claim that he is independent of politics.”
One advertisement, Walton said, stated that Messmer is independent of politics, but the mailer did not have a disclaimer saying it was bought by the Indiana House Republican Campaign Committee.
“Mark Messmer is bought and paid for by Indianapolis Republicans,” Walton said.
Reece Collins, field representative for the GOP, said one mailing had a typographical error but did have a disclosure saying who paid for the mailing.
“In terms of the nitpicking, it’s a typographical error, a small error,” Collins said. “There’s clearly no intent of wrongdoing. This is clearly the minutiae of the daily campaign. Mark’s been running a campaign on the issues and not on two words.”
Collins then questioned Walton’s charges saying his candidate, Burger, has had advertisements for some time without disclosures. Collins cited several instances of yard signs, birthday cards and advertisments that Collins argues violate campaign law.
Burger and Messmer, both of Dubois County, are vying to replace Rep. Dave Crooks, D-Washington. A mass mailing advertisement can reach up to 60,000 voters in the portions of Daviess, Pike, Martin and Dubois counties that make up District 63.
If one is found guilty of the offense, he can be sentenced to a maximum of one year in jail and pay a $5,000 fine for each violation.
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Democrats angry in House District 63 race
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